Newsletter – 21 September 2026

Events

CCH Workshop – ‘Difficult Histories: Researching, Writing, and Publishing on Controversial Pasts’
Where: Deakin Downtown
When: 11 December 2026

A save the date for Graduate Researchers (and can Supervisors please also bring to their attention) and ECRs, a special CCH workshop to be held at Deakin Downtown. More details to follow soon!

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Symposium – ‘History of the Present: Australia’s China Debate’
Where: Online
When: 30 September, 5:30 – 6:30pm

Australian Policy and History invites you to attend History of the Present: Australia’s China Debate.

Australia’s relationship with China is one of the most contested and consequential questions in Australian politics today. While anxieties about foreign interference and the bipartisan support for the AUKUS agreement reflect enduring currents in Australian politics that frame China as a ‘threat’, recent efforts to rebuild trade and diplomatic relations speak to mutual interest in engagement and cooperation. Meanwhile, Chinese Australian communities are cast in both Australian and Chinese mainstream discourse as either a source of suspicion, or the keys to successful Sino-Australian relations.

Join a discussion with historians David Brophy, Shan Windscript, David Lowe, and Sophie Loy-Wilson to explore how Australia’s present relationship with China has been shaped by the past, how Australia’s politics have shaped, and been shaped by, changing visions of multiculturalism, and why knowledge of these histories is vital for Australia to understand its place in our region today.

Registration is essential so please click here to learn more and secure your place!

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Book Launch – Jess Urwin’s Contaminated Country: Nuclear Colonialism and Aboriginal Resistance in Australia (Melbourne, 2026)
Where: Deakin Downtown
When: 29 October, 3:30 – 5pm

Join Deakin’s Science and Society Network, Dr Renee Fiolet, and CCH Co-Director Professor David Lowe for a launch and panel discussion on the themes in this important new book.

During the twentieth century Australia was embroiled in the military and civilian nuclear programs of numerous global powers. From uranium extraction to weapons testing, Australia’s lands became sites of imperial exploitation under the guise of national development and was subject to rampant nuclear colonialism. Aboriginal communities, bearing the brunt of these processes, persistently resisted, reclaiming their rights to Country and demanding reparations.

As Jessica Urwin shows, extraction, testing and waste disposal have caused incalculable physical, spiritual, and cultural harm to Aboriginal communities and lands. Tracking the colonial mechanisms Australia used to pursue nuclear industry, Urwin simultaneously highlights how Aboriginal peoples rejected and reshaped those same mechanisms. Contaminated Country reveals how Australia’s nuclear past has been entangled with colonialism locally, nationally, and internationally.

Find out more, and reserve your spot, here!

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Workshop – ‘Writing Difficult Subjects’
Where: Melbourne CBD
When: 14–17 December 2026

Are you an Early or Mid-Career Researcher working on difficult research subjects?

Dr Mia Martin Hobbs, Dr Jennifer Martin, Dr Renee Fiolet, and Dr Julie Wheelwright are running a ‘Writing Difficult Subjects’ workshop for ECRs and MCRs in the humanities based in Melbourne. This workshop draws on Dr Wheelwright’s previous workshops run at Birkbeck University to understand how creative writing can aid humanities researchers who are working on difficult subjects. Here is the Plain Language Statement and Consent Form, which explains more about the study and what participation involves.

Participation in this research is voluntary. If you don’t wish to participate, you don’t have to. If you would like to register interest in this workshop, or if you would like more information, please email mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au by 1st November.

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Symposium – ‘Putting the History into Health Humanities’
Where: Deakin Downtown
When: 13 November, 9:30 – 5pm

Join the Deakin Science and Society Network and 11 leading researchers to explore issues of medicine, ethics, and history in health humanities.

History has much to offer the health humanities, illuminating how medicine, care, and public health have been shaped by the societies that produced them. Colleagues across fields and the public are invited to join the SSN and leading researchers for a symposium that traces these histories across a full day of interdisciplinary papers. Keynotes from Professor Gayathri Prabhu and Professor Nikhil Govind, from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, span gender, race and medicine in colonial India, and bioethics and end-of-life care debates in Indian law, alongside papers on dementia and aged care in literature, hepatitis C treatment barriers, the cultural history of the vagus nerve, autism diagnosis, American psychotherapy, obstetric violence in British medicine, and the history of tobacco and gambling advertising regulation.

Fortnightly Lectures – ‘Understanding Palestine’
Where: Democritus House, 583 High Street, Northcote, VIC
When: 23 September 2026, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

The ‘Understanding Palestine’ series started in March 2024, under the auspices of the Averroes Centre for Arab Culture, as a response to the growing interest among Australians in the Palestinian issue, and the limited resources in English about the history, literature, and culture of Palestine.

The series is organised and delivered by Yousef Alreemawi, one of Australia’s leading experts in the history and culture of Palestine.

Lecture 51 within this series – ‘Leila and the Oak of Safad’ – will be held on 9 September.

Find out more here!

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Conference – ‘Human Voices, Modern Technology: Oral History & Authenticity’
Where: Union House, University of Adelaide
When: 3–6 December 2026

Registration is now open for the 2026 Oral History Association Biennial Conference, in Adelaide, South Australia, presented jointly by Oral History Australia and Oral History Australia SA/NT. The theme of the conference ‘Human Voices, Modern Technology: Oral History & Authenticity’ is very timely given rapidly advancing technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). The keynote speaker is Professor Doug Boyd, Director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries, a world expert on technology and oral history. Early bird pricing is available until 30 October 2026.

Find out more here!

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One-Day Festival – ‘Radical Melbourne! A People’s History Festival’
Where: Balam Balam Place, Brunswick, VIC
When: 21 November, 9–5pm

Radical Melbourne! is a full-day festival celebrating Melbourne’s incredible history of ordinary people fighting collectively for a better life and a better world – from migrant strikes, to fighting the far-right, to Aboriginal resistance to colonisation.

Radical Melbourne! is hosted by the People’s History of Australia podcast and is totally free to attend! Whether you want to stay for the whole day or pop in for a single panel, it’ll be an amazing opportunity to join hundreds of others, meet new people, discuss ideas, and hear how Melbourne’s history is full of stories of regular people like us fighting together for something better.

Find out more details, and register your attendance, here!

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CCH Shut Up and Write
Every Monday, 9am–12pm, on Zoom.

Start the week strong with a Shut Up and Write! We run 3 x 50 minute blocks of writing/focus, with breaks in between to chat and grab coffee. All CCH colleagues welcome, especially ECRs, HDRs, and those who work remotely. Feel free to join any time. The Zoom link is here (Meeting ID: 879 3895 9029, Password: 97747034). If you would like a recurring invite in your calendar, or you have any trouble joining, email Mia at mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au

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History Council of Victoria Annual Lecture 2026 – ‘Direct Action, Protest and Democracy: An Historical Perspective on Contemporary Conflicts’

Where: State Library of Victoria
When: 24 September, 6–7:30pm

Across the globe, many polities are currently marked by the eruption of ‘direct action’ campaigns: for environmental protection; for peace; and  against racial, gender, and class inequality. People march, demonstrate, disrupt, occupy, and boycott. They typically justify these actions as a legitimate response to the failures of political authorities. They also present their actions as an authentic form of ‘direct’ or ‘participatory’ democracy. Political elites sometimes tolerate these campaigns and selectively incorporate their demands. Increasingly, however, they seek to restrict the scope for ‘direct action’, and to portray ‘direct action’ as a threat to legitimate order, and as a violent assertion of minority interests.

Calls for Papers

‘(Re)Imagining Futures’: Inaugural Student-Led Conference of the School of Communications and Creative Arts, Deakin University
Where: Deakin Downtown
When: 20 October 2026

This inaugural conference brings together graduate researchers across the School of Communication and Creative Arts to share work in progress, test new ideas, and build community across candidatures and disciplines.

Across a single day in Melbourne, presenters will explore how communication, media and creative practice are being reshaped by technological, environmental, cultural and political transformation — and how research and creative work can respond, resist, and reimagine what comes next.

We welcome diverse perspectives that reflect the depth of knowledge and lived experience across our graduate research cohort, in both critical and creative modes.

Each sub‑theme is intentionally broad to welcome the full range of research across SCCA:

• Media, Journalism and Public Communication
• AI, Digital Media and Emerging Technologies
• Climate, Environment and Sustainable Futures
• Storytelling, Creative Practice and Performance
• Culture, Identity and Global South Perspectives
• Politics, Power and Social Change
• Social Media, Digital Communities and Platform Cultures
• Ethics, Justice and Inclusive Futures

Abstract submissions close 18 September 2026.

Find out more here!

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Call for Case Studies – Assessment Design Toolkit: embedding inclusion and assessment security

Are you re-designing your summative assessment tasks in response to artificial intelligence? Have you incorporated features that promote inclusion and strengthen assessment security? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Inclusion and security in assessment design can be tricky to navigate. They’re not opposing goals, and both can coexist, but there are often tensions and trade-offs that educators need to work through. Inclusive assessment refers to assessment that is intentionally designed to be accessible and to promote the participation and success of students who have been historically marginalised. Assessment security refers to the design and implementation of assessment in ways that support trustworthy judgements about student learning.

We (a team at Deakin) are developing an Assessment Design Toolkit to support educators in higher education and are seeking examples of summative assessment tasks from across the sector. We welcome contributions from all disciplines, year levels, class sizes and assessment types, particularly those that demonstrate thoughtful approaches to inclusion and assessment security. Suitable examples will form case studies and help build a practical resource for the higher education community.

We’re particularly interested in hearing from colleagues in history. Essays and other forms of extended writing play an important role in history assessment. We’d especially welcome examples from colleagues who are rethinking the traditional history essay, adapting it in response to generative AI or trying out other ways for students to demonstrate their learning.

For more information, please contact Nicole Crawford at n.crawford@deakin.edu.au or Sue Sharpe at s.sharpe@deakin.edu.au.

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Special Issue of the Journal of Palestine Studies

Health is not merely a biomedical condition but a reflection of the political, social, economic, and environmental realities that shape people’s lives. In Palestine, health and wellbeing are profoundly influenced by the ongoing conditions of Israeli military occupation, settler colonialism, apartheid, genocide, displacement, siege, and violence. Palestinian experiences of health therefore illuminate broader questions of survival, resilience, justice, and human dignity under conditions of structural oppression.

This special issue – ‘Health and Palestine’ – seeks to foreground Palestinian life through the study of health in its broadest sense at a time when Palestinian existence is under grave threat. We invite contributions that explore how occupation, apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonial structures shape health and wellbeing, including their effects on healthcare systems, experiences of illness and disability, mental health, reproductive justice, environmental conditions, and collective forms of care. We particularly welcome scholarship that centres Palestinian voices, lived experiences, and knowledge production while advancing critical understandings of health as both an instrument of oppression and a terrain of resistance. Interdisciplinary contributions are encouraged from scholars working across public health, medicine, sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, history, law, environmental studies, disability studies, gender studies, psychology, and related fields.

The deadline for abstracts is 2 October 2026. Find out more here!

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Special Issue of Studies in Oral History

Contributors are invited to submit articles for peer review for the 2027 issue of Studies in Oral History, the journal of Oral History Australia (OHA). The issue, co-edited by CCH members Mia Martin Hobbs and Geraldine Fela, takes as its theme ‘Human Voices in a Changing World’.

Contributions are invited across the following themes (but are not limited to these):

• Experiences of social, cultural, political, economic, climate and technological change
• Methods and ethics of integrating new technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence) into oral history practice
• Authenticity and artifice in the oral history interview
• How our current changing world changes how we think about the past

To be considered for peer review, articles should be no more than 8,000 words, including references. Publication of the issue is anticipated in late 2027. The submission deadline for articles for peer review is 3 December 2026.

Find out more here!

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Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History – Current Debates

In January 2025 The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History launched a section devoted to opinion and commentary. Here we publish shorter pieces (1–4,000 words) on topical issues or debates broadly construed within the field of the British Empire and Commonwealth, or imperialism and colonialism more generally. In order to address current affairs in a timely manner and to retain the integrity of the opinion piece essays/discussion, pieces published in this Current Debates section are not subject to peer-review.

The framing and argument are entirely up to authors although the editors are very happy to consider essays investigating themes such as: the dismantling of settler-state structures; truth, justice, and redress; global power hierarchies; current inter-imperialist rivalries; climate change and colonial legacies; past and present migration and colonialism. There are no set deadlines and pieces are usually published online within two-three weeks upon receipt.

If you have any questions, or are interested in pitching an idea, then please get in touch with Current Debates Editor Jonas Fossli Gjersø – jonas.f.gjerso@uis.no. Alternatively, find out more here!

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Australian Historical Association’s Guardian Column

CCH members may be interested in the opportunity to propose their work for inclusion in The Guardian’s ‘Past/Present’ column. Written by AHA members, the column aims to provide a historical perspective on recent events, showcase the important work that historians in Australia do, and demonstrate the value of history and historical thinking to a wide audience.

If you’d like to contribute to “Past/Present”, please send a short pitch to the Executive Officer of the AHA, following the pitch guidelines outlined here.

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SHAFR in the Asia Pacific Network

The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations has established a network for historians in the Asia Pacific. The network will run small workshops with SHAFR scholars to develop works-in-progress, online seminars, and provide networking opportunities.

If your research explores any aspect of American foreign policy and you are interested in joining, visit the SHAFR website for further information. Or, reach out to our own Mia Martin Hobbs with questions!